Glastonbury to chill in 2012

Music festival avoids Olympic clash

Organizers of the Glastonbury Festival — which marked its 40th anni this year with Muse, Gorillaz and Stevie Wonder toplining — are taking a year off in 2012.

The 177,000-capacity event, held in the fields of farmer Michael Eavis near the village of Pilton, 200 miles west of London, traditionally skips a year every five years. But the decision to take a rest in 2012 represents a six-year gap since the last break.

This prompted speculation that the decision was taken so that the fest doesn’t clash with the London Olympics, even though the Games begin a month after Glastonbury’s June gathering.

Some reports highlighted a shortage in the availability of portable toilets as the reason behind the fest’s cancellation, but Eavis has quashed such reports by stating it had always been his intention to rest his fields in 2012.

Next year’s fest has already sold out despite the fact that no acts have been named.